A former Fort Lauderdale police officer brought his Black girlfriend to a hearing Tuesday in order to prove that he is not racist and get his job back after being fired for sending racist text messages about African-Americans.
Last March, four Fort Lauderdale police officers—-Chris Sousa, James Wells, and Alex Alvarez— were fired in a racist text message scandal that featured videos and texts dehumanizing and showcasing violence toward African-Americans, CBS reported.
According to CBS Miami, one of the fired officers, Jason Holding, had his girlfriend, Perpetua Michel, testify on his behalf in order to get his job back.
“There are people that make mistakes. There are people that say things that they didn’t mean,” said Michel. “He’s a cop, he shouldn’t have said that word [the n-word], correct.”
Michel and Holding’s relationship began around the time the allegations against Holding surfaced.
